HBOT Conversations:
Dr. Jay Stevens
Optimizing Health & Longevity
Dr. James “Jay” Stevens is the Medical Director of Extivita-RTP. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Zoology from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Doctor of Medicine from East Carolina University School of Medicine. He completed a Family Practice Residency at the Fairfax Family Practice Program at the Medical College of Virginia and the first Sports Medicine Fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1991. He is Board Certified in both Family Practice and Anti-aging Medicine. He also holds a Certificate of Added Qualification in Sports Medicine. In 2003 he founded Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine with locations in Cary, Raleigh, and Holly Springs, NC. He has served as the Team Physician for the National Hockey League’s 2006 Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes since their arrival in 1997. He also serves as Company Physician for the Carolina Ballet.
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Dr. Jay Stevens, Medical Director at Extivta, returns to HBOT News Network to discuss ways to optimize your health & longevity. In addition to being the Medical Director at Extivita, Dr. Stevens is also the Medical Director & Provider for the Cary, NC location of Essential Health. Essential Health has many locations across the country.
We are lucky to have Dr. Stevens here to share the insightful data and information he has come across over the course of his career.
Dr. Stevens starts by explaining that there is in fact a difference between someone’s health span and life span. Health span can be defined or looked at by how long can someone live before they succumb to disease? While, life span is more along the lines of quality of life, and wanting to live as long as possible. With life span, a person wants to keep the body as young, disease-free and as healthy as possible. This is where longevity fits in, because it ultimately is the desire to achieve the longest life span possible. But, he reminds us that functional medicine can never exist without conventional medicine. They both play a part in someone’s longevity and keeping diseases away.
Yet, how exactly does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy play a part in a person’s longevity goals? Dr. Stevens states that he sees HBOT as elegant and simplistic; because to create energy, we require a nutrient and oxygen. It’s as simple as that. But, our environments keep mucking that process up — toxins, poor diet, too much sugar, etc. We must look at Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as a mechanism to improve cellular energy production. He further explains that when we focus on optimizing everything about the cell lifestyle and then apply oxygen, we have a recipe to achieve the best outcome in energy production. But, why is energy production so important for longevity?! Because energy production in your immune system predicts how your immune system will function – more energy production and your immune system is boosted to preform better, thus optimizing the chances of keeping disease and illness away.
The topic of the immune system leads us into a discussion on immunosenescence and why it is so important. Dr. Stevens explains that ultimately, the longevity of our lives is predicted by our immune system. Thankfully Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is known to slow down the rate of decline in an aging immune system, and increase our body’s ability to regenerate stem cells.
Dr. Stevens again touches on the power of extended fasting, and why it plays such an important role in optimal health & longevity.
Dr. Stevens starts by explaining that there is in fact a difference between someone’s health span and life span. Health span can be defined or looked at by how long can someone live before they succumb to disease? While, life span is more along the lines of quality of life, and wanting to live as long as possible. With life span, a person wants to keep the body as young, disease-free and as healthy as possible. This is where longevity fits in, because it ultimately is the desire to achieve the longest life span possible. But, he reminds us that functional medicine can never exist without conventional medicine. They both play a part in someone’s longevity and keeping diseases away.
Yet, how exactly does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy play a part in a person’s longevity goals? Dr. Stevens states that he sees HBOT as elegant and simplistic; because to create energy, we require a nutrient and oxygen. It’s as simple as that. But, our environments keep mucking that process up — toxins, poor diet, too much sugar, etc. We must look at Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as a mechanism to improve cellular energy production. He further explains that when we focus on optimizing everything about the cell lifestyle and then apply oxygen, we have a recipe to achieve the best outcome in energy production. But, why is energy production so important for longevity?! Because energy production in your immune system predicts how your immune system will function – more energy production and your immune system is boosted to preform better, thus optimizing the chances of keeping disease and illness away.
The topic of the immune system leads us into a discussion on immunosenescence and why it is so important. Dr. Stevens explains that ultimately, the longevity of our lives is predicted by our immune system. Thankfully Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is known to slow down the rate of decline in an aging immune system, and increase our body’s ability to regenerate stem cells.
Dr. Stevens again touches on the power of extended fasting, and why it plays such an important role in optimal health & longevity.
Guest
Dr. Jay Stevens
Dr. James “Jay” Stevens earned a Bachelor of Arts in Zoology from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Doctor of Medicine from East Carolina University School of Medicine. He completed a Family Practice Residency at the Fairfax Family Practice Program at the Medical College of Virginia and the first Sports Medicine Fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1991. He is Board Certified in both Family Practice and Anti-aging Medicine. He also has a Certificate of Added Qualification in Sports Medicine. In 2003 he founded Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine with locations in Cary, Raleigh, and Holly Springs, NC. He has served as the Team Physician for the National Hockey League’s 2006 Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes since their arrival in 1997. He serves as Company Physician for the Carolina Ballet as well.
In 2009, his commitment to helping his patients create healthy lifestyles for long-term wellness, along with his desire to provide the highest quality health care services, motivated Dr. Stevens to establish Essential Health & Wellness (EHW). EHW offers its patients a comprehensive health care service tailored around their busy schedules with the goal of optimizing their performance and longevity.
In 2018, he continued this commitment to long-term wellness of his patients by becoming the Medical Director at Extivita RTP, a hyperbaric oxygen therapy facility with two, twelve seat treatment chambers in the Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC.
Dr. Stevens is also a Fellow in both the American Academy of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine and the American Academy of Family Practice. He is a member of the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine and Hyperbaric Medicine International.
Dr. Stevens lives in Cary, NC with his wife, Dr. Patience Stevens. They have three sons Eric, James, and Timothy. He is passionate about surfing, triathlon and almost any form of exercise.
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Recent HBOT News
Clinical Trial – Hyperbaric Oxygenation in Athletes: Standard Versus Low Pressure
Currently, Hyperbaric Oxigen (HBO) is a widely used treatment for several conditions. There
are 14 indications for HBO, officially recognized by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical
Society (UHMS), but research is discovering other interesting applications.
HBO plays an important role in enhancing antioxidant defense mechanisms by increasing radical
oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide species (NOS). This controlled oxidative stress has
been shown to stop the vicious circle of inflammation – damage – hypoxia already seen in
several diseases. Increased neoangiogenesis has been demonstrated at pressures of 2
atmospheres absolute (ATA), while effects helping ischemic tissues need pressures between 2.5
and 2.8 ATA to develop.
During sports activities, metabolism generates waste products – mostly CO2, lactic acid, but
also ROS. HBO could be useful in modulating antioxidant mechanisms and helping cells in the
recovery after training and sportive competitions.
The authors hypothesize that:
1. HBO can reduce oxidative stress in healthy professional athletes
2. HBO can ameliorate the lactic acid clearance after a maximal exercise
3. HBO at low pressures (L-HBO at 1.45 ATA) is at least comparable to conventional HBO (at
2.5 ATA) in reducing oxidative stress and ameliorating lactic acid clearance after a
maximal exercise.
The Authors will include healthy athletes. These will be randomly assigned to a control
group, a L-HBO group, or a HBO group. The Authors will assess oxidative stress changes and
lactic acid clearance (testing it after a maximal exercise) before and after 20 L-HBO/HBO
treatments, and after 2 months after the end of treatments.
Clinical Trial – Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Compared to Pharmaceutical in Fibromyalgia With Emotional Trauma
The investigators have previously studied the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) as
a treatment for Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) in a prospective, active control, crossover
clinical trial. The results demonstrated significant amelioration of all FMS symptoms, with
significant improvement in life quality; furthermore, the investigators were able to
demonstrate significant neuroplasticity on SPECT imaging, with a decrease of the
hyperactivity in posterior regions and elevation of the reduced activity in frontal areas.
In this study, the investigators intend to both repeat and expand the investigator’s previous
findings, treating FMS patients with history of emotional trauma with HBOT, while performing
an extensive of evaluation both before and after treatment.
In the current study, the investigators plan to compare HBOT to current standard of care of
FMS (pharmacological and non – pharmacological).
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy gets Lincoln CPA back in business for tax season
17 years ago Tom Shotkoski was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. But, when his surgical site became infected, Shotsoski was left with a life of debilitating pain that restricted him from even being able to sit. His doctors recommended Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to...